The Greatest Mobile Security Threats Your Employees Should Know about

Posted On November 21, 2018November 21, 2018

Posted By Parveen

Mobile devices are a major part of our lives these days. Unfortunately, this comes with a few unpleasant strings attached. We put a lot of trust in our smartphones and tablets, and yet we seldom stop to think about the potential security implications some of our actions may have. Many companies now have established procedures for dealing with mobile security issues, but there are still some barriers to their proper implementation.

The fact that employees can sometimes be very careless in what networks they connect to plays a significant role in the current situation. Thus, improving the company’s visibility over the use of its smartphones is one of the most important steps towards establishing strong security.

Mobile Security Threats To Watch Out For

Data leaks are one of the most frequently reported threats that companies need to be on the lookout for. It’s not rare that information leaks out from the company. And, whether it’s confidential details of employees or customers, or confidential internal documents, there is always a huge potential for the incident to be damaging to the organization in the long run.

Phishing is another common problem that’s observed a lot these days. And even though many companies continue to invest a lot of resources into combating it, employees are still often ignorant about staying safe from phishing attempts. Many of them also skip critical application updates, which can open some serious security holes.

Are Your Company Phones Safe?

Mobile devices issued by the company should be kept under close observation. Companies need to know how many devices are in use, and by whom. There is also a need for an overview of the current activities that employees are performing online in regards to what networks they’re connecting to.

More than half of the companies on the market right now lack any adequate measures to track the mobile usage of their employees. And this is a very problematic number considering how many of our confidential details are kept safe by these companies. Even when an organization has strong measures in place to avoid running into problems, things can still fall apart at the lower levels if employees don’t pay attention to the protocol.

Things You Can Do

Every company should take adequate measures to ensure that they don’t suffer from issues in this regard. There’s always more you can do than you’re aware of, including some simple actions that can potentially impact you in major ways. For example, prevent employees from bringing their own devices to work. This might be a popular request, but it’s something that can impact your operations in a very negative way.

Also, use a centralized solution for managing all your company phones and other digital assets. Ideally, it should be one that gives you as much control over individual devices as possible. Ensure that your employees take good care of their devices as well, for example, by enforcing a mandatory password protection policy. Use a secure virtual private network Android application to connect devices to the company network to ensure that no information leaks out.

Be Proactive

It’s important to take active steps in improving the security of your company’s mobile phones, rather than waiting for an incident to happen before taking action. A proactive approach will minimize the risk of any incident occurring, and you’ll be able to stay in full control of every situation by getting right on top of it. This includes every aspect of your company’s mobile security, from the way phones are assigned, to the policies you have in place for connecting to different networks.

Encourage your employees to follow appropriate practices where possible, and if necessary, punish those that don’t. You might have to be a bit harsher at times if you want to ensure that all guidelines are met and that nobody is going out of line. But that’s just the way of running a business works in the first place, and you’ll want to get used to this kind of attitude if you want the company to succeed.

Other than that, make sure to pay attention to anything your employees might have to say about the current state of security in the company. Sometimes, you’re going to get interesting insights into how things work from the lower levels of the organization, and it’s important to pay close attention to all hints you’re getting. If possible, reward those that have opened your eyes to a severe gap in your security when that happens.